Growing in the prophetic gift as a child my mother would say that I had a big mouth, and with that big mouth that I would always find myself putting my foot in it as well. Some prophets know what I am talking about. When growing up as a prophetic child life is very unique in itself. I was very charismatic, sensitive, extra emotional, and was sometimes labeled as bipolar and rebellious because I wanted to do things my way. In my own mind, I was the boss. One of the things that I had to learn in the prophetic is being delivered from the human spirit of men and agendas of men. Rejection comes so that one may become like Jesus, who was the Stone that the builder rejected.
I had to learn that what one may not want now, they will need later. As prophetic people and prophets of the Lord, we must understand that Jeremiah was not called by man, but by the Lord. What Jeremiah feared was his inability to speak and the rejection of men. Jeremiah was born to be a prophet who would prophesy as the Lord commanded him, regardless of what people thought or said.
As I stated earlier, Jeremiah’s name means, “Yahweh establishes.” The powerful thing about God is that He was going to use the meaning of Jeremiah’s name, which spoke of his nature, and establish him as prophet to the nations while putting His word in his mouth to kings, princes, and governors of nations and kingdoms. Simply put, God (Yahweh) established Jeremiah as His spokesperson before conception. A person cannot want or desire to become a prophet, but prophets are born; Jeremiah was born to be a prophet. He did not afterward seek to be something that was not in his prophetic origin.
One cannot desire to be in the office of a prophet, but one can covet spiritual gifts. A person can desire to prophesy by the gift of prophecy or minister in one of the prophetic administrations through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The frustrating part about the whole call to the prophet’s office to me as a child was that I had no idea how to be what I was born to be for the Lord.
I am reminded of a baby first learning to know the voice of their parents. One interesting discovery is that when the parents start calling the baby its birth name, the baby doesn’t know at first that it is his or her name, but the parents continue to speak it until the baby, over time, understands that in fact that is his or her name. How did you know your own name? It took someone calling you that name. It took several years as a child to fully respond and react when your name was spoken by the person who gave it to you.
Regardless of whether or not you liked what your parents or someone named you, it’s still your name. Prophecy can function just like that; when spoken to a person, the hearer will hear that same prophetic word over and over until the time that the person responds and walks in prophetic fulfillment.
YOU ARE QUALIFIED TO BE USED BY THE LORD
Similar to the prophetic call on someone’s life, the Father will declare and confirm it as what you were born to be through others many times until the time that you understand, embrace, respond, and react to that call. Jeremiah had that same encounter with the Father and had to embrace that he was appointed, anointed, chosen, and sent before he was born. God desires that His people know and occupy that which they were created to be. Jeremiah, like many of us, felt inadequate and inexperienced to prophesy or speak. Jeremiah felt that his inability to perform was going to change God’s mind, but in fact, he was to be used to prophesy extensively because God knew he was ready and able to prophetically speak to the nations. You may not be as eloquent and skilled in the area that you are called to, but know that by the Spirit of God you will be someday.
In Jeremiah’s early ministry he was primarily a preaching prophet, going where the Lord directed and sent him to preach and prophesy. Jeremiah was used of the Lord through a holy indignation and discontentment against idolatry, the greed of priests, paganism and false prophets, including corrupt governments and worldly kingdoms. Many years later God instructed Jeremiah to write down these early oracles and other messages. Jeremiah’s perception of himself as an unqualified prophet caused the Lord to share with him about His will for Jeremiah’s life and the purpose of his birthing.
Have you ever thought about why you were created and what was the purpose of your birth and life? I know I have many times and even as I continue my walk as a kingdom believer in the Lord. Those thoughts are still at the center of my mind and heart. I have been born to make an impact on my generation and leave a legacy for future generations to benefit and enjoy. Jeremiah, like many of us today, asked that question. He felt that he was not the man for a tremendous service of the Lord. God knew that he was the man and that he was going to speak for Him. God knew it was necessary for Jeremiah to be born in that generation to address an apostate nation who had turned from the true and living God.
We must understand that our very own birthing in the earthly realm serves a purpose for humanity to reap the benefits from. Many of us today have been birthed out of prophetic words and prayers that were prayed centuries or even decades before we came into being. Some prayer warrior, intercessor, prophet, grandmother, and nation cried out to the Lord to bring forth the eternal purposes of God in their time and generation.
BORN FOR SUCH A TIME LIKE THIS
In times past I recall thinking and wondering why the Lord would birth me in the time and generation age that He did. I remember an account when I was about twelve years old. My mother and grandmother told me that during the birthing of me and my twin brother, Naim, in August of 1981 there was an assassination attempt upon President Ronald Regan. At that time the HIV/AIDS epidemic had started in the United States. Also during the early eighties other nations around the world were going through many governmental leadership transitions, and some nations were revolting in revolutionary ways. During the time of my birth there were governments around the world that were being overturned and overthrown by rebellion of the people. Key leaders in those nations were being assassinated as well. In addition, there was a surge of technological breakthroughs and discoveries during the late seventies and early eighties. I truly believe that in times of transition, restoration, and reformation, God knows what is needed and who He can use to play a key role in His redemptive plan of reconciliation.
Throughout history and in every generation of men, God has always and will always continue to raise up men and women to radically shift, alter, and transform their world and society. The Bible says, “The earth is the LORD’s, the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein (Ps. 24:1, KJV; see also 1 Cor. 10:26). Before we are born God sees the beginning and ending of a thing, because Christ Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending. There is no beginning and ending without or outside of God. So, that being said, you are important to the time, season, age, or generation that the Father births you into. You must understand that your generation needed you to be born in the time that you were conceived.
5 Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 882. See also Blue Letter Bible, s.v. “ruwm”
6 Blue Letter Bible, s.v. “Yahh”
7 Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 6. See also Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, The Jewish Study Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 917.
8 Strong’s Greek Concordance, #3444, http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/gwview.cgi?n=3444 (accessed July 10, 2013).
Chapter Two
GOD’S PROPHETIC PURPOSE
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
—ROMANS 8:28–30, NKJV
; GOD HAS PROPHETIC promise and eternal purpose for those He calls. We see that there are those who are predestined, called, justified, and glorified by the Lord. We also see Jesus being preeminent of many brothers. Regardless of personal hardship, sufferings, disappointments, and bad news, believers can know that God will work in the midst of our circumstance to fulfill His good, eternal purpose in His people. Even if the circumstance or situation doesn’t change, know that God will get the glory out of the situation, and He will guarantee success and good outcome as a result.
We are called to be conformed into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what our calling may be as ministers of the Lord. Our destinies are linked in Christ, and we are to be like Him in the earth as His ambassadors, ultimately destined to be with Him eternally when our earthly ministry and purpose is fulfilled. There is a divine purpose on earth, but also there is a glorified purpose as Sons of God. If Jesus is the firstborn of the many brethren, then there are those who have been chosen, predestined, called, and justified before the world came into existence to be glorified with Christ.
I AM NOT ELOQUENT TO SPEAK
There are people who make excuses about their earthly calling and do not realize their divine purpose. Jeremiah complained about his inexperience to speak because of his age, and Moses complained about his inability to speak due to his speech impediment. There are many things that we might not like about ourselves, but God overlooks those things and uses them for His eternal purpose. Just imagine if every called leader in the Bible complained about their circumstance, personal issues, or flaws and let those things keep them from fulfilling the call of God. I don’t believe we would be here.
I like the story of Moses, for instance, because he was one that God used regardless of his past and personal imperfections. He was one that God’s purpose was fulfilled through, and that’s what is imperative. He was used by God as His prophet to bring deliverance and salvation to a people. They needed the Lord to rescue them from the hand of Pharaoh. They needed salvation, and God sent a prophet to do it.
The Bible indicates that Moses had a speech impediment, which caused him to fear the mission that God gave him. In the Book of Exodus, just after Moses had been called by God and told to go to the Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egyptian enslavement, he appeals to the Lord, saying, “Pardon your servant, LORD, I have never been eloquent . . . I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exod. 4:10). Later in Exodus 4:13 he says, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” God reassures Moses and instructs him to go meet his brother, Aaron, the Levite Priest, who is eloquent and would speak to the people for Moses.
Moses felt that he was unable to speak because of his speech impediment, but Aaron was going to be Moses’ prophet, and Moses was going to be like God. Moreover, Moses’ excuse was the very thing God judged. The excuse that Moses used became the instrument that God used, which was his mouth to speak to Pharaoh. Moses did not have to declare much but just say to Pharaoh by the authority of God, “Let God’s people go.” Moses had to prophetically stutter out the word of the Lord to Pharaoh, because his inability, like Jeremiah, was a personal problem, issue, and concern to him.
God used the very thing that he complained and made an excuse about to be the very instrument to cause a nation to be emancipated from Egyptian bondage. The very thing that the devil uses against you, the very thing that you may dislike about yourself, is a secret weapon that the devil uses against a believer to hinder them and cause them not to fulfill what they were born to fulfill.
LACKING CONFIDENCE TO COMMUNICATE
Jeremiah felt insecure about his ability to prophesy because of his age and inexperience, and Moses felt that same way about his speech. I can relate to both of these men. I can remember when I was in middle school I had a very hard time speaking very well. It wasn’t that I was not a bright kid; it was just that I lacked self-confidence. I used to mumble frequently, and my mother used to get on me about my speech problem. My mother would always tell me to speak clearly and speak up. I had no self-esteem whatsoever. I was in desperate need of validation due to the fact that I was the middle child and my natural father was not present in my life to cultivate my identity. Therefore, I did not really have any sense of security or purpose. Growing up in a single family home, at times, was like living in my own world. I really did not know how to connect and relate with other people. I was different and peculiar.
I can recall a time that I was in junior high school and my classmates would tease me about my speech problem. When I would speak in front of the class I would talk very fast or talk under my breath. I was the smallest guy in my class, and because of that people would badger, bully, and control me. Little did they know that this little guy from the projects could stand up for himself when challenged. When I would get into fights I would always seem to win, and many would be surprised. People who witnessed the fight were not surprised of my victories but by the profanity that came out of this little guy.
Ironically, I could only speak well when confronted by enemies, but when it was time for me to be heard, I was timid and bashful. I had to realize that God was using circumstances and situations to develop my temperament, character, and personality to be that prophet that He has called me to become. I had to come to the realization that I was born to speak, and those who know me, know that I love to share what’s on my heart and talk.
The enemy uses those things that I call personal flaws to become giants in my life so that he could silence my voice. I remember receiving a prophetic word from a prophet that God was going to use me to be a great speaker and prophetic orator. I laughed inside about that prophecy when I looked at my current issue, but God was going to make me an eloquent speaker by His Spirit and not by what it looked like then. So, like Jeremiah and Moses, I understood that the very thing that I felt was insignificant was the very thing that God was going to use to be significant for His glory.
That being said, it did not matter what my personal flaws and complexes were. In God’s eyes they were not flaws and complexes. They were His perfection and mastered handiwork. We must be careful what we think about ourselves. According to the Bible, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt. 12:34, NKJV; see also Luke 6:45). That is why we must guard our hearts; out of it flows the cares of life.
YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO SPEAK!
The devil uses what a person says against them. The biggest lethal weapon and enemy of a believer, especially prophets, is ignorance. Why? Because the Bible says that people perish because of the lack of knowledge (Hos. 4:6). I do not believe it is information that people lack, but it’s the knowledge of themselves and their purpose in life. The things we sow can be the very things that we reap.
I am reminded of police officers who, when they make an arrest because of probable cause, read the suspect their Miranda rights. If there is anything that causes them to make an official arrest, they begin to read those rights, saying that you have the right to remain silent and that anything you say can and will be used against you. This is what the adversary does to a believer of Christ when he or she makes excuses and complains about something they do not like about themselves or something they were born with. The enemy uses what a person says as an arsenal against the person, but the Lord does the opposite. He uses what you say as a weapon of war on the enemy once the person comes into the revelation that they were born like Christ to destroy the works of the enemy.
One major lesson that every prophet has to grow in and go through is the school of humility. God will take a prophet and prophetic leader through their personal wilderness to overcome pride, conceit, haughtiness, and ignorance in their life. Humility and obedience to the Lord is something that any believer cannot shortcut. Humility is key to honor and promotion. We must understand that we were born on purpose, and God has everything to do with your success here on earth.
Whenever a person is birthed into the earth it is because the earth has need of you and what you are purp
osed to change in it. God, the Maker of the earth, created it to be inhabited. God did not waste His time creating the earth, nor did He create mankind in vain. It’s our kingdom responsibility to see through heaven’s lenses to know what’s on the heart of the Father and realize His eternal purposes for our lives.
Interestingly, I came across a passage of Scripture that blessed me while writing this book. This verse reveals the heartbeat of God in creating, making, forming and birthing anything. Isaiah 45:18–19 (NKJV) says, “ For thus says the Lord, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD, and there is no other. I have not spoken in secret, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain’; I, the LORD, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.” Isaiah 45:18–19 (The Message) speaks of it as, “God, Creator of the heavens—He is, remember, God. Maker of earth—he put it on its foundations, built it from scratch. He did not go to all that trouble to just to leave it empty, nothing in it. He made it to be lived in.”
This is the very purpose why the Creator created humanity and wanted a spiritual family to reflect His image and implement the culture of His kingdom into every generation, era, age, and society. The overall plan and destiny of man is that Christ is conformed in us and that we walk in the original purpose, plan, inheritance, godly qualities, and characteristics that the Creator designated to us. Our inheritance is one of dominion only when one has been fruitful, multiplied, filled the earth, and has subdued whatever needed to be put under our subjection in the earth.
Born to Prophesy Page 5